Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week we talk about our top ten with a different topic provided by Jana. This week’s topic is ten books that I was so excited to buy, but still haven’t read.
Hi, lovelies! It’s Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month and I shared some recommendations last year, so I wanted to share again with a new list of the books I’ve read and loved since last years post. This year, I wanted to also share some books by AAPI authors that are on my TBR list (and I already own.)
Middle-Grade
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality by Roshani Chokshi
Hi, lovelies! Happy May! Last month, I actually did pretty well with my TBR jar picks. I’m not pushing myself to focus only on these TBR books, because I’m just trying to read steadily so I don’t get into a reading slump. So, these are books that I want to read this month, but might possibly completely ignore.
Gifted to You The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
Reread The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
Middle Grade The Weeping Tide by Amanda Foody
Romance From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata
Standalone Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
As usual, I also have some NetGalley books to read for this month.
Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah Hide by Kiersten White Primal Animals by Julia Lynn Rubin Small Town Pride by Phil Stamper
Hi, lovelies! While I was making my list for my ‘series to marathon’ post, I started to think about what series and sequels I’m excited to read that haven’t been published yet. A few of these just came out, but I’m including them anyway.
The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis “Tress Montor murdered Felicity Turnado—but she might not have to live with the guilt for long. With an infected arm held together by duct tape, the panther who clawed her open on the loose, and the whole town on the hunt for the lost homecoming queen, the odds are stacked against Tress. As her mind slides deeper into delirium, Tress is haunted by the growing sound of Felicity’s heartbeat pulsing from the “best friend” charm around her fevered neck. Ribbit Usher has been a punchline his whole life—from his nickname to his latest turn as the unwitting star of a humiliating viral video. In the past he’s willingly played the fool, but now it’s time to fulfill his destiny. That means saving the girl, so that Felicity can take her place at his side and Ribbit can exact revenge on all who have done him wrong—which includes his cousin, Tress. Ribbit is held by a pact he made with his mother long ago, a pact that must be delivered upon in four days. With time ticking down and an enemy she considers a friend lurking in the shadows, Tress’s grip on reality is failing. Can she keep both mind and body together long enough to finally find out what happened to her parents?”
Youngbloods by Scott Westerfeld “Frey has spent her life in a family of deceivers, a stand-in for her sister, manipulated at her father’s command. Free from them at last, she is finding her own voice — and using it to question everything her family stood for. Tally was once the most famous rebel in the world. But for over a decade, she’s kept to the shadows, allowing her myth to grow even as she receded. Now she sees that the revolution she led has not created a stable world. Freedom, she observes, has a way of destroying things. As the world is propelled further into conflict and conspiracy, Frey and Tally join forces to put a check on the people in power, while still trying to understand their own power and where it belongs. With Youngbloods, master storyteller Scott Westerfeld decisively brings back his most iconic character and merges his Impostors and Uglies series into a breathtaking tale of rivalry, rebellion, and repercussion.”
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality by Roshani Chokshi “The Pandavas only have until the next full moon to stop the Sleeper from gaining access to the nectar of immortality, which will grant him infinite power. But how can Aru, Mini, and Brynne hope to defeat him without their celestial weapons? The Sleeper and his army are already plundering the labyrinth, and the sisters can’t even enter. Their quest to get in will have them calling on old friends, meeting new allies, and facing fearsome trials, like…performing in a rock concert? When the moment of confrontation finally arrives, it’s up to Aru to decide who deserves immortality, the devas or the asuras. The most unexpected answer will come from a most unexpected place. More surprises and delights, gods and demons, and laughs and tears await in this immensely satisfying conclusion to the wild ride that began with the lighting of a lamp.”
The Genesis Wars by Akemi Dawn Bowman “It’s been ten months since Nami narrowly escaped the Four Courts and Ophelia’s wrath. Ten months since she was betrayed by someone she once considered a friend. Someone she poured her heart out to. And now her family here in the afterlife are gone, captured, and Nami is utterly alone. On the run, only steps ahead of the AI forces pursuing her, and desperate to free her friends, Nami must take the allies she can find, even if she doesn’t fully trust them. And as she tests the limits of her own power, she must also reckon with the responsibility that entails. Stakes are high as Nami navigates old enemies, unexpected allies, and an ever-changing landscape filled with dangers and twists at every turn. Along the way, she’ll learn powerful truths about who she can trust and the sacrifices that must be made in order to fight for a better, freer world for all.”
The Last Fallen Moon by Graci Kim “For Riley Oh, life as the Godrealm’s last fallen star is not all it’s cracked up to be. Her new divine heritage doesn’t even come with cool magical powers; half of her friends and family (including her parents) can’t remember her; and to top it all off, the entire Gom clan is mad at her for killing the Cave Bear Goddess and stripping away their healing abilities. But when their anger boils over and a group of witches curses Riley’s home, she knows it’s up to her to restore magic back to her clan – even if it means sneaking into the Spiritrealm. Luckily, Riley has some backup. Along with her sister, Hattie, Riley meets Dahl, a heaven-born boy with shockingly white hair and a fondness for toilets who might not be telling the whole truth about who he is. Together they’ll fight vicious monsters, discover dark underwater worlds, and race to save the land of the dead from a fate that no one could have foreseen. And this time, Riley won’t let anything get in her way. Because she can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is coming their way – and the gifted community is going to need all the powers they can get.”
For the Throne by Hannah Whitten “The First Daughter is for the Throne The Second Daughter is for the Wolf… Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red’s beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally–though it’s one she’d rather never have to speak to again–the rogue king Solmir. Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscape in order to find a mysterious Heart Tree, and finally to claim the gods’ dark, twisted powers for themselves.”
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers “After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home. They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe. Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?”
The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes “To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets, and they know her. But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player. Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake—and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.”
The Shattered City by Lisa Maxwell “Once, Esta believed that she could change the fate of magic. She traveled to the past and stopped the Magician from destroying a mystical book that held the key to freeing her people from the Brink, an energy barrier that traps all Mageus who cross it. But the Book was more than she bargained for. So was the Magician she was tasked to steal it from. Hunted by an ancient evil, Esta and Harte have raced through time and across a continent to track down the powerful artifacts they need to bind the Book’s devastating power. They’ve lost family, betrayed friends, and done what they’d both vowed never to do: fallen in love with the one person who could truly destroy them. Now, with only one artifact left, their search has brought them back to New York, the city where it all began. But nothing in Manhattan is as they left it. Their friends have scattered, their enemies have grown more powerful, and as the deadly Brink beckons, their time is running out. If they can’t find a way to end the threat they’ve created, then the very heart of magic will die—and it will take the world down with it.”
A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow “Zinnia Gray, professional fairy-tale fixer and lapsed Sleeping Beauty is over rescuing snoring princesses. Once you’ve rescued a dozen damsels and burned fifty spindles, once you’ve gotten drunk with twenty good fairies and made out with one too many members of the royal family, you start to wish some of these girls would just get a grip and try solving their own narrative issues. Just when Zinnia’s beginning to think she can’t handle one more princess, she glances into a mirror and sees another face looking back at her: the shockingly gorgeous face of evil, asking for her help. Because there’s more than one person trapped in a story they didn’t choose. Snow White’s Evil Queen has found out how her story ends and she’s desperate for a better ending. She wants Zinnia to help her before it’s too late for everyone. Will Zinnia accept the Queen’s poisonous request, and save them both from the hot iron shoes that wait for them, or will she try another path?”
What series continuations are you looking forward to coming out this year?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To (Submitted by Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse).
Ursula K. Le Guin
Robert Jordan
Rebecca Roanhorse
Kwame Mbalia
Akemi Dawn Bowman
Graci Kim
Sarwat Chadda
Lori M. Lee
J. C. Cervantes
Anna James
What authors would you like to read for the first time?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week we talk about our top ten with a different topic provided by Jana. This week’s topic is ten authors that I haven’t read but would like to.
Jenn Lyons I have the first four books in the Chorus of Dragons series and I really want to read them this year.
Emily Tesh I have Silver in the Wood as an ebook. I am eager to read it and I’m also very much looking forward to her 2023 novel, Some Desperate Glory.
Alexandria Bellefleur I’ve heard great things about her Written in the Stars series. I’ve been on the lookout for new romance. So, I have added this author to my collection.
C.J. Tudor On a trip to Barnes & Nobel, I found The Burning Girls. I almost bought it but added it to my library TBR instead. I’ve since seen some good reviews for Tudor’s other books as well and I’d like to try the audiobooks sometime soon.
Martha Wells I want to read the Murderbot Diaries so badly.
Octavia E. Butler I bought Parable of the Sower last year. It’s definitely higher up on my TBR list.
Robin Hobb I don’t know that I’ll actually read Hobb any time soon, but I do want to eventually try some of her fantasy stories.
Mariana Zapata Target compelled me to buy some books from them and I found From Lukov with Love while browsing. I’ve seen great reviews for Zapata’s books.
Nina Varela I want to read Crier’s War and its sequel. I have the ebook and I’m pretty sure my library has the sequel.
Ann Leckie I really want to take some time to read some older science fiction like Ancillary Justice.
Hi, lovelies! I somehow managed to read three of my five TBR jar picks last month, so I have decided to continue picking prompts from my TBR jar. These are the prompts I’ve picked for April and the books I’ve picked to read for them.
LGBTQIA Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Favorite Author Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality by Roshani Chokshi
Backlist Book The Devil’s Thief by Lisa Maxwell
1st in a Series The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas
Thriller Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
As always, I’m including the NetGalley books I need to read for the month.
The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller The Jade Setter oof Janloon by Fonda Lee The Button Box by Bridget Hodder, Fawzia Gilani-Williams, & Harshad Marathe Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power To Marry and To Meddle by Martha Waters This May End Badly by Samantha Markum Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
I might have bitten off more than I can chew this month. But I’m going for it. Check out my wrap-up at the end of the month to see how many of these I manage to read. What are you hoping to read this month?
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is Books On My Spring 2022 TBR.
Seven Mercies by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Set Fire to the Gods by Kristen Simmons and Sara Rauschenberg
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia
Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week we talk about our top ten with a different topic provided by Jana. This week’s topic is ten books on my spring 2022 tbr list.
The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout
It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality by Roshani Chokshi
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata
The Serpents Curse by Lisa Maxwell
The Messengers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
These are the books I’m hoping to read this spring. Some are new releases and some are books I’ve been meaning to catch up on. What books are on your list this week?
Hello, lovelies! March is absolutely blessing us with exciting new book releases. I have a few of these preordered, but I’m hoping to borrow the rest from my library in an attempt to curb my book buying. I don’t know that I’ll manage to read all of these (or any of them, honestly) right away. But I thought it would be fun to share the books coming out in March, and their details, that I’m excited about.
March1st Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey “King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he’s a guaranteed good time–in bed and out–and that’s exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She’s immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his… personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is. Now, Hannah’s in town for work, crashing in Fox’s spare bedroom. She knows he’s a notorious ladies’ man, but they’re definitely just friends. In fact, she’s nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport’s resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker’s eye… yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can’t deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost. Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she’s walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and… and… man overboard! He’s fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker. Helping her flirt with another guy is pure torture, but maybe if Fox can tackle his inner demons and show Hannah he’s all in, she’ll choose him instead?”
March1st Gallant by Victoria Schwab “Olivia Prior has grown up in Merilance School for girls, and all she has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Then, a letter invites Olivia to come home—to Gallant. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, and she is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in a place that is Gallant—but not. The manor is crumbling, the ghouls are solid, and a mysterious figure rules over all. Now Olivia sees what has unraveled generations of her family, and where her father may have come from. Olivia has always wanted to belong somewhere, but will she take her place as a Prior, protecting our world against the Master of the House? Or will she take her place beside him?”
March1st Edgewood by Kristen Ciccarelli “No matter how far she runs, the forest of Edgewood always comes for Emeline Lark. The scent of damp earth curls into her nose when she sings and moss creeps across the stage. It’s as if the woods of her childhood, shrouded in folklore and tall tales, are trying to reclaim her. But Emeline has no patience for silly superstitions. When her grandfather disappears, leaving only a mysterious orb in his wake, the stories Emeline has always scoffed at suddenly seem less foolish. She enters the forest she has spent years trying to escape, only to have Hawthorne Fell, a handsome and brooding tithe collector, try to dissuade her from searching. Refusing to be deterred, Emeline finds herself drawn to the court of the fabled Wood King himself. She makes a deal—her voice for her grandfather’s freedom. Little does she know, she’s stumbled into the middle of a curse much bigger than herself, one that threatens the existence of this eerie world she’s trapped in, along with the devastating boy who feels so familiar. With the help of Hawthorne—an enemy turned reluctant ally who she grows closer to each day—Emeline sets out to not only save her grandfather’s life, but to right past wrongs, and in the process, discover her true voice.”
March8th Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore “Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore’s only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate. Then the lines between air and water begin to blur. The world under the lake drifts above the surface. If Bastián and Lore don’t want it bringing their secrets to the surface with it, they have to stop it, and to do that, they have to work together. There’s just one problem: Bastián and Lore haven’t spoken in seven years, and working together means trusting each other with the very things they’re trying to hide.”
March8th Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu “Ropa Moyo’s ghostalking practice has tanked, desperate for money to pay bills and look after her family she reluctantly accepts a job to look into the history of a coma patient receiving treatment at the magical private hospital Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments. The patient is a teenage schoolboy called Max Wu, and healers at the hospital are baffled by the illness which has confounded medicine and magic. Ropa’s investigation leads her to the Edinburgh Ordinary School for Boys, one of only the four registered schools for magic in the whole of Scotland (the oldest and only one that remains closed to female students). But the headmaster there is hiding something and as more students succumb Ropa learns that a long-dormant and malevolent entity has once again taken hold in this world. She sets off to track the current host for this spirit and try to stop it before other lives are endangered.”
March15th The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis “Tress Montor murdered Felicity Turnado—but she might not have to live with the guilt for long. With an infected arm held together by duct tape, the panther who clawed her open on the loose, and the whole town on the hunt for the lost homecoming queen, the odds are stacked against Tress. As her mind slides deeper into delirium, Tress is haunted by the growing sound of Felicity’s heartbeat pulsing from the “best friend” charm around her fevered neck. Ribbit Usher has been a punchline his whole life—from his nickname to his latest turn as the unwitting star of a humiliating viral video. In the past he’s willingly played the fool, but now it’s time to fulfill his destiny. That means saving the girl, so that Felicity can take her place at his side and Ribbit can exact revenge on all who have done him wrong—which includes his cousin, Tress. Ribbit is held by a pact he made with his mother long ago, a pact that must be delivered upon in four days. With time ticking down and an enemy she considers a friend lurking in the shadows, Tress’s grip on reality is failing. Can she keep both mind and body together long enough to finally find out what happened to her parents?”
March15th The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout “From the desperation of golden crowns… Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable. And born of mortal flesh… Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of the wolven, Poppy must convince the Atlantian generals to make war her way—because there can be no retreat this time. Not if she has any hope of building a future where both kingdoms can reside in peace. A great primal power rises… Together, Poppy and Casteel must embrace traditions old and new to safeguard those they hold dear—to protect those who cannot defend themselves. But war is only the beginning. Ancient primal powers have already stirred, revealing the horror of what began eons ago. To end what the Blood Queen has begun, Poppy might have to become what she has been prophesied to be—what she fears the most. As the Harbinger of Death and Destruction.”
March15th The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James “In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect–a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion. Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases–a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes. They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?”
March 22nd The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller “Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow. Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren’t real. Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself. But now–Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire—by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder. If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil — her freedom. But if she does, she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart. Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor’s will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.”
March 22nd Savvy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell by Taj McCoy “Savvy Sheldon spends a lot of time tiptoeing around the cracks in her life: her high-stress and low-thanks job, her clueless boyfriend and the falling-apart kitchen she inherited from her beloved grandma—who taught her how to cook and how to love people by feeding them. But when Savvy’s world starts to crash down around her, she knows it’s time for some renovations. Starting from the outside in, Savvy tackles her crumbling kitchen, her relationship with her body, her work–life balance (or lack thereof) and, last but not least, her love life. The only thing that doesn’t seem to require effort is her ride-or-die squad of friends. But as any home-reno-show junkie can tell you, something always falls apart during renovations. First, Savvy passes out during hot yoga. Then it turns out that the contractor she hires is the same sexy stranger she unintentionally offended by judging based on appearances. Worst of all, Savvy can’t seem to go anywhere without tripping over her ex and his latest “upgrade.” Savvy begins to realize that maybe she should’ve started her renovations the other way around: beginning with how she sees herself before building a love that lasts.”
March29th Until the Last of Me by Sylvain Neuvel “Over 100 generations, Mia’s family has shaped Earth’s history to push humanity to the stars, making brutal, wrenching choices along the way. And now Mia finds herself about to help launch the first people into space. She can’t take them to the stars, not quite yet. But with her adversary almost upon her, and with the future of the planet at stake it’s becoming clearer that obeying the First Rule is no longer an option. For the first time since her line’s first generation, Mia will have to choose to stand her ground, knowing that the overwhelming odds mean that she risks not only her bloodline, but also the future of the human race. A darkly satirical thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who sacrifice all to make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them… Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all cost. Take them to the stars.”
March29th Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto “Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can’t wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name. Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can’t believe Staphanie and her family aren’t just like her own, they are The Family–actual mafia, and they’re using Meddy’s wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won’t let Meddy’s wedding ceremony become a murder scene–over their dead bodies–and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.”
What new releases are you looking forward to this month?
Hello, lovelies! We’ve made it through another month of 2022. Somehow things in our world are even worse instead of the better that I know we were all hoping for. Personally, I’ve just had a baby. He’s three weeks old! Life has honestly been a pretty big struggle lately trying to take care of a newborn and a three year old. But we’re taking things day by day and managing the best we can. My reading has absolutely suffered a little bit, so I really don’t know that I’ll even get to read any of these books. But I like making these posts and picking a few books to read each month from my TBR jar, so we’re going with it. Last month, I read three of the five books I picked and really enjoyed the three that I read. But I’m not stressing about the books that I didn’t get to. Let’s talk about what prompts I picked for this month and what books I’m hoping to read for each one!
Favorite Author The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout I have the ebook preordered for this one, so I should absolutely be able to read this one this month. It’s one of my most anticipated releases of 2022.
Fantasy The Weeping Tide by Amanda Foody I loved The Accidental Apprentice, so I’m very excited to continue this series.
Young Adult Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer I’m supposed to buddy read this with Books in the Skye this month.
1st in a Series The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell I actually am about 150 pages into this one already. I started it in February for book club, but didn’t manage to finish it. I’m hoping to finish it and continue the series this month.
Backlist Book The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas I started rereading this while I was in labor and then put it down to read House of Sky and Breath and never picked it back up, so, I would like to pick it up again this month.
As always, I have a few NetGalley ARC’s that I need to read this month. So, I’ll share those here as well.
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu Last Exit by Max Gladstone The City of Dusk by Tara Sim Savvy Sheldon Feels Good as Hell by Taj McCoy The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller
This is a bit of an ambitious TBR for me, but I should be able to read most of these if I can find the ebooks. What are you planning to read in March?
Hi, lovelies! I decided that 2022 is going to be the year of comfort when it comes to reading. I have a pretty tough year ahead of me, emotionally, and I’m going to need all the comfort I can get. So, to assist with that, I’m going to be rereading all of the things and I thought I would share what ten books or series are on my TBR to reread this year. All my reviews are linked in the titles if you want to know what I thought the first time I read them.
The Trials of Morrigan Crowby Jessica Townsend “A cursed girl escapes death and finds herself in a magical world – but is then tested beyond her wildest imagination. Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks–and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday. But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor. It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart – an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests – or she’ll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.”
The Bone Seasonby Samantha Shannon “The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people’s minds. For Paige is a dreamwalker, a clairvoyant and, in the world of Scion, she commits treason simply by breathing. It is raining the day her life changes for ever. Attacked, drugged and kidnapped, Paige is transported to Oxford – a city kept secret for two hundred years, controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. Paige is assigned to Warden, a Rephaite with mysterious motives. He is her master. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if Paige wants to regain her freedom she must allow herself to be nurtured in this prison where she is meant to die.”
The Night Circusby Erin Morgenstern “The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.”
The Ten Thousand Doors of Januaryby Alix E. Harrow “In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place. Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.”
This is How You Lose the Time Warby Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone “Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.”
The Calculating Starsby Mary Robinette Kowal “On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too. Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.”
The Last Magicianby Lisa Maxwell “In modern-day New York, magic is all but extinct. The remaining few who have an affinity for magic—the Mageus—live in the shadows, hiding who they are. Any Mageus who enters Manhattan becomes trapped by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that confines them to the island. Crossing it means losing their power—and often their lives. Esta is a talented thief, and she’s been raised to steal magical artifacts from the sinister Order that created the Brink. With her innate ability to manipulate time, Esta can pilfer from the past, collecting these artifacts before the Order even realizes she’s there. And all of Esta’s training has been for one final job: traveling back to 1902 to steal an ancient book containing the secrets of the Order—and the Brink—before the Magician can destroy it and doom the Mageus to a hopeless future. But Old New York is a dangerous world ruled by ruthless gangs and secret societies, a world where the very air crackles with magic. Nothing is as it seems, including the Magician himself. And for Esta to save her future, she may have to betray everyone in the past.”
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas “After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her … but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best. Then one of the other contestants turns up dead … quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.”
Dryby Neal Shusterman & Jarrod Shusterman “When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival. The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers. Until the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.”
Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts “Recently widowed Stella Rothschild has found a new love in Logan Kitridge. But there is someone who isn’t happy about Stella’s growing feelings for Logan: the Harper Bride, an unidentified woman whose grief and rage have kept her spirit alive long past the death of her body.”
These are just some of the books that I want to reread this year. I’m sure I’ll find others to add to this list, but these are the ones that are speaking to me at the moment. Do you like to reread books?
Hello, lovelies! There are so many incredible books out in the world and I will very sadly never read them all in my lifetime. But I do have a running list of series that I’ve started to purchase and am really excited to read. So, I thought I would share some series that I’m planning to start (and hopefully finish) in 2022. I think this post will be a good way to keep me accountable and I can check back on this list later to see my progress. I’ll be sharing the first book of each series with their synopsis below.
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons “Kihrin is a bastard orphan who grew up on storybook tales of long-lost princes and grand quests. When he is claimed against his will as the long-lost son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds that being a long-lost prince isn’t what the storybooks promised. Far from living the dream, Kihrin finds himself practically a prisoner, at the mercy of his new family’s power plays and ambitions. He also discovers that the storybooks have lied about a lot of other things too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, true love, and how the hero always wins. Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin is not destined to save the empire. He’s destined to destroy it.
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey “Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don’t get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will. Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don’t venture beyond the walls. What he doesn’t know is – what happens when you aren’t given a choice?”
A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos “Long ago, following a cataclysm called “The Rupture,” the world was shattered into many floating celestial islands. Known now as Arks, each has developed in distinct ways; each seems to possess its own unique relationship to time, such that nowadays vastly different worlds exist, together but apart. And over all of the Arks the spirit of an omnipotent ancestor abides. Ophelia lives on Anima, an ark where objects have souls. Beneath her worn scarf and thick glasses, the young girl hides the ability to read and communicate with the souls of objects, and the power to travel through mirrors. Her peaceful existence on the Ark of Anima is disrupted when she is promised in marriage to Thorn, from the powerful Dragon clan. Ophelia must leave her family and follow her fiancée to the floating capital on the distant Ark of the Pole. Why has she been chosen? Why must she hide her true identity? Though she doesn’t know it yet, she has become a pawn in a deadly plot.”
Assassin’sApprentice by Robin Hobb “In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma. Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility. So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.”
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter “The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine. Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.”
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin “Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.”
All Systems Red by Martha Wells “In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.”
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson “For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot. But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.”
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky “The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life. But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind’s worst nightmare. Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?”
Hi, lovelies! We’ve made it another month into 2022. This is the month that I will be having another baby, so please bare with me as I adjust to adding another human to my family. I’m still going to pick five books from my TBR jar for February, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see them on my wrap up at the end of the month.
Fantasy The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
1st Book in a Series The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
5-Star Prediction Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
New Release Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Backlist Book If You Come Softly by Jaqueline Woodson
As usual, I have a few NetGalley ARC’s that I want to get to this month as well. So, I’ll share those here too. These are all of the February releases that I have advanced copies of that I haven’t read yet. There’s only three of them, which I’m pretty proud of.
Azura Ghost by Essa Hansen Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments by T.L. Huchu A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
Hello, lovelies! I’m here today to share with you a wonderful and fun reading challenge that my friend Ari over at Bookish Valhalla is hosting (her announcement post is linked for anyone that wants to read it). For the last few months, I’ve really been trying to focus on moving away from YA fantasy and science fiction and exploring more adult SFF stories. I just haven’t been connecting with YA stories as much and I’ve really loved the adult SFF that I have read recently.
So! To say that I was excited when Ari shared this reading challenge is an understatement. This challenge focuses on reading backlist adult books that are fantasy and science fiction. Each month has a loose theme, so I’ve picked some books that I think will work for each month. I’m going to share all the options that I have on my TBR for each of these because I’m not sure which book I’ll end up reading for the months that have more than one option to choose from. Also, this TBR will only be the books that I own, I may end up reading books I don’t own for this challenge but as of now my goal is to focus on the adult SFF series that I already own.
January // Winter
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
February // Time
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
March // Oaths
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
April // Hidden Places
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
May // Starlight
The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
June // To Sea
July // To Sky
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
August // Sacrifice
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
September // Fire
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
October // Ritual
The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
November // Forest
Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
December // Omens
I have some ideas about recommendations for this reading challenge, too. So, you can expect to see a post about that eventually. Share some recommendations for the themes that I didn’t list anything for please! What adult science fiction and fantasy books are you hoping to read in 2022?
classyxbookreviews.wordpress.com 